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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

5 weeks of light benzo use, how long of a withdrawal period?

YellowNikes

YellowNikes

Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
347
hey
so i am currently going through benzo withdrawals, the last time i did any was last Monday the 22nd. And up until that time i had been doing benzo almost daily for about five weeks. I was switching between k-pins, ativan and xanax, mainly xanax. Typically i wouldn't do very much and would only use about once a day, though there where some days where i would do more. My tolerance remained pretty low and on Monday, the last time i used, i was able to feel .5mgs of xanax. Whats confusing me is that i am still going through withdrawals and I am wondering how long they are going to last. I would also appreciate any advice in dealing with these withdrawals. thank you
 
What withdrawal symptoms are you having? If your body was used to clonazepam, which has a long half life, and now you are only taking 0.5mg Xanax a day, which has a much shorter half life, then that is why you are having WDs - for a lot of the day your body has no benzos in it at all. Is your ultimate aim to stop using them completely?
 
I have stopped using them completely last time i took any benzo was Monday (the 22nd) so its been about six days absolutely no benzos in my system. Sorry if that was not clear. Also I was never prescribed them and so the exact amounts i was doing is impossible to know lol.

some of the symptoms include inability to sleep, anxiety and emotional problems (i have a mood disorder though), head aches, tired limbs like kinda achy feeling, sick stomach and weird poops lol, my skin feels hot at some points and my thoughts generally feel like their being blocked
 
No you were clear, I am tired (drunk)..

I really am not sure how long the WDs from 5 weeks of light use would be expected to last, but I wouldn't imagine they would go on too much longer. I'm sorry I don't have anything more constructive to say.. as for dealing with them - it depends what symptoms exactly. Eating well, exercise, generally looking after yourself and distracting yourself (be it with computer games, reading, sex, whatever) can all help. Sedating antihistamines like promethazine can help insomnia. Good luck!
 
0.5 & u can feel something?
ppl overrate benzos wd. u have to use insane amounts for a long time to be in any real danger otherwise alcohol is worse.
I use benzos sometimes. Used to be hooked to them last yr & had to go do a taper but now ony use occationaly. so yeah it is possible to go fro an addict to a regualar user.
I take about 40mg-80mg when i take it recreatinaly & somtimes do this for a few days. never get any w/d
.5mg is of xanax is only like 10mg valium. I wouldnt even feel that. Ud have to take amount for 6 months straight before u had any trouble & than still ud only have to taper for a week. & even if u quit cold turkey u wouldnt be in any danger. mayb would feel a little nervous a few days later. not as bad is a drinking hangover though
oh & yes ^^ take some phergan (prometazine) before bed. its actually more sedating than temazepam imo & u wont get addicted to it. helps allergies too. but dont keep taking it longer than a couple of weeks cuz it will sop working as well.
 
^ that might be your personal experience, but it isn't everyone's.. "ppl overrate benzos wd" is quite a sweeping statement to make. Fair enough, the OP might not be at the stage of needing medical help to prevent seizures, and hopefully they will be fine soon, but that doesn't mean they aren't uncomfotable. Good call on the promethazine though, it really does help :)
 
hmmm...see thats what i was thinking that i shouldnt be getting wds. which is confusing lol maybe i got a flu/cold or something
 
It is possible. Either way, you should be feeling a lot better soon (fingers crossed) :)
 
Anon54 said:
0.5 & u can feel something?
ppl overrate benzos wd. u have to use insane amounts for a long time to be in any real danger otherwise alcohol is worse.
I use benzos sometimes. Used to be hooked to them last yr & had to go do a taper but now ony use occationaly. so yeah it is possible to go fro an addict to a regualar user.
I take about 40mg-80mg when i take it recreatinaly & somtimes do this for a few days. never get any w/d
.5mg is of xanax is only like 10mg valium. I wouldnt even feel that. Ud have to take amount for 6 months straight before u had any trouble & than still ud only have to taper for a week. & even if u quit cold turkey u wouldnt be in any danger. mayb would feel a little nervous a few days later. not as bad is a drinking hangover though
oh & yes ^^ take some phergan (prometazine) before bed. its actually more sedating than temazepam imo & u wont get addicted to it. helps allergies too. but dont keep taking it longer than a couple of weeks cuz it will sop working as well.
Click to expand...
its different for everyone but ive had 4 week stages where i have severly abused xanax everyday for 4 weeks (between 20-40mg a day!) then stopped cold turkey and had 1 - 2 week of sleeplessness,anxiety (which i suffer with anyway) loss of appetite,depression (which i suffer with anyway),general achey flu like feeling,shivers,hot/cold/ and occassional twitches.

but then within a few weeks to a month a was quite a lot better,i was even managing upto 5-6 hours a night sleep.
 
@OP: those sound like typical benzo withdrawal symptoms. I always think I'm getting the flu when I am withdrawing, maybe just to trick myself. The skin burning is very irritating and I still have it.

Since you were mixing benzos of different half-lives it's tough to tell. If you were using the shorter lasting ones more then your w/d will be shorter and more intense, if you were using clonazepam the most then they will last longer. 5 weeks of daily use is definitely enough to cause the symptoms you describe, how intense/how long they last depend on the person and on which benzos you used most often.

With long acting benzos I always w/d for at least 6 weeks and then PAWS lasts even longer, up to 6 months. Your use may not have been that extreme or extended, so 1-2 weeks and you should be back to normal. If your symptoms get worse or you start to feel crazy then you may be in for a more extended withdrawal.
 
I was on a constant use of xanax/kpins for a good two months.

Honestly the WDs are pretty horrid. Made me not want to ever take them as a prescription again. The constant feeling of STRESS/ANXIETY honestly only lasted for about 3 days, after that it seemed to lightly fade away.

Now I only use them to end the crappy feeling you succumb to after stimulant use.
 
well it's good that you've been off of them for six days, seizures are the thing you really want to avoid. don't think you'd have a problem with those doses for such a short period of time but you never know. try drinking a glass of wine in the evenings to relax. doxylamine helps a little for sleep, ambien, lunesta.. if you have a script work.

I think you're lucky, I involuntarily had to withdraw from a three year daily benzo habit and it was worse than heroin withdrawals. Ended up back on them.

anything that works on the GABA receptors will help you, valerian root, kava... I don't know, without a script I'd just have a few drinks and take some Ultram for sleep. Weed helps some. I don't think they'll last too much longer.

soma works well for me, thats an rx muscle relaxer but they're not too hard to find, if you have any of those I'd take them. Also Naproxen (Aleve) for the muscle aches.
 
thank you all for your replys. i have succesfully quite abusing benzos, for now lol. now stop doing opiates errday.
 
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